DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Communication Master of Arts Theses College of Communication Summer 8-25-2019 Must-stream TV: The reemergence of NBC's must-see TV in the streaming era Bri Mattia DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Mattia, Bri, "Must-stream TV: The reemergence of NBC's must-see TV in the streaming era" (2019). College of Communication Master of Arts Theses. 32. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt/32 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Communication at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Communication Master of Arts Theses by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Must-Stream TV The Reemergence of NBC’s Must-See TV in the Streaming Era by Bri Mattia, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of DePaul University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Media and Cinema Studies DePaul University September 2019 Dedication To Mom and Dad Thanks for letting me have a TV in my room iii Acknowledgments I first would like to thank my thesis committee, Paul Booth and Kelly Kessler. Paul sparked the idea for this thesis over a year ago when after I mentioned I was interested in writing one (but had no idea of what to write about) he told me I obviously had to write about Friends. He was right, and his encouragement every step of the way made this thesis possible. Kelly agreed to be my second reader having never had me in class or met me before, and I’ve greatly enjoyed getting to know her through this process. The feedback I received from both Paul and Kelly over the course of writing this thesis has taught me so much, and made me a better writer. I am eternally grateful. With regard to the writing process I also need to thank my best friend Emily LaVerriere, who has proofread everything I’ve written since high school and proofread every chapter of this thesis. She’s my lifesaver, in more ways than one. Last but certainly not least I would like to thank my family. My parents are my favorite people. Without their love, encouragement and insistence that despite my health I could still be anything I wanted to be, I would not be where I am today. I also need to thank my nonna Camilla, and my grandfather Richard, for being two of my biggest supporters. And finally, my grandma Nancy, who used to call and read TV Guide to me over the phone and treasured everything I ever wrote. I wish she was still here to read this. iv Abstract Must-Stream TV The Reemergence of NBC’s Must-See TV in the Streaming Era By Bri Mattia, B.A. DePaul University, 2019 Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Booth Committee: Dr. Kelly Kessler This thesis argues that two current and prevalent television industry shifts—the plethora of reboots and revivals on network television, and forthcoming studio-owned streaming services—are the result of the popularity of past series with audiences on streaming services. I first argue for a focus on the specifics of the series themselves, over the greater trend as a whole in order to determine the validity of these shifts. Approaching each series with the questions “Why then?” and “Why now?” this thesis examines two series from NBC’s famous Must-See TV programming block, Friends (1994-2004) and ER (1994-2009), that have reemerged in popularity with the target 18-49-year-old audience due to their availability on streaming platforms Netflix and Hulu respectively. Through the analysis of data from two audience surveys, one of viewers of Friends on Netflix and one of viewers of ER on Hulu, I argue that while nostalgia plays a significant role in their appeal, understanding how each series is engaged with by its viewers is critical in answering to the validity of the industry response to their popularity. v Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................................... 2 A Brief History of NBC’s Must-See TV .............................................................................................. 3 The Narrowing of the 18-49 Demographic .......................................................................................... 4 From Off-Network Syndication to Streaming ...................................................................................... 6 Television & Nostalgia ......................................................................................................................... 8 The Development of the Multi-Camera Sitcom Family ....................................................................... 9 The Development of the Medical Drama ........................................................................................... 10 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 12 Outline of Chapters ................................................................................................................................. 13 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 1: The One With All the Reboots and All the New Streaming Services ....................................... 16 Reboots & Revivals ................................................................................................................................ 18 Upcoming Streaming Services ............................................................................................................... 23 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 29 Chapter 2: The One Where Everyone is Still Watching Friends ................................................................ 31 There For You: (Friends original broadcast run and ubiquity in syndication) ....................................... 31 Like They’ve Been There Before: (Friends on Netflix) ......................................................................... 36 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 46 Chapter 3: The One Where ER Sets the Tone ............................................................................................. 49 See, there’s two kinds of doctors: (ER’s original broadcast run, and limited success in syndication) ... 50 Welcome back, Carter: (ER on Hulu) ..................................................................................................... 54 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 62 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 64 vi Tables .......................................................................................................................................................... 69 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................. 75 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................................. 83 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 89 1 Introduction In May 2017, NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt announced to reporters that the network would be bringing back Must-See TV—the branding moniker given to the network’s Thursday night lineup in the 1990s which was both a critical and ratings success. NBC once again constructed a Thursday evening starting off with four comedies, and leading up to a drama set in Chicago for the ten o’clock hour, Chicago Fire (2012-present). This mirrored their 1990s strategy, which climaxed with the Chicago set medical drama ER (1994-2009), which held the 10pm slot for twelve of the thirteen years NBC’s Thursday nights had first been “Must-See.” NBC’s decision to bring back Must-See TV was made in the midst of a trend that was becoming too significant to ignore. Due to its January 2015 arrival on the streaming service Netflix, the Must-See series Friends (1994-2004) had again become a phenomenon, remaining in the top five series watched on the service and becoming a hit with an all new generation. Netflix’s 2016 revival of Full House (1987-1995), Fuller House (2016-present), was just the first in an onslaught of television reboots and revivals that would soon proliferate. NBC brought back former Must-See staple Will & Grace (1998-2006, 2017-present); ABC brought back Roseanne (1988-1997, 2018); CBS followed with their own revival of Murphy Brown (1988-1998, 2018); and networks announced countless other reboots of series from the 90s. In January 2018, the streaming service Hulu licensed Must-See tent pole ER, which